Posts Tagged ‘green smoothies’

I got up at 6:30 this morning – don’t ask me why. I lingered in bed a bit, did my intentions and meditations for the day and then got up. There’s lots to do this morning!

This morning’s juice was huge – I’m still drinking it. It contained:

beets
carrotsa WHOLE lotta kale
green apple
oranges

I typically like the kitchen sink variety of juices – where I put in what I have and see what happens. I found a couple beets in the fridge and decided to put them in.

Now I’m full from juice. I am sure I will be peeing a lot again today. 🙂

I’m off to see about meeting a realtor, seeing what I can do to get this Vitamix order out and then I’m off to do a follow up with my ND for some blood tests I had done a couple weeks ago.

More to follow…

Afternoon time! Busy day thus far. Went to see the realtor and then went to a follow up DRs appt in town. Then drove back and helped at the tail end of getting boxes on palettes for Vitamix. Took a photo or two and will post that here.

Was HUNGRY at around 11 but was out and didn’t bring anything to munch. I made a smoothie today for lunch (a little more substantial)

banana
orange
an entire head of lettuce
blueberries
coconut kefir

It’s good and once again filling me up. OK, I’m off to do some orders. I’ll write more after dinner. OH YES! Here are the photos:

Evening! The dinner smoothie/juice was:

celery
radish greens
kale
carrots

and then I put it in the blender with an avocado, dulse and some dashes of hot sauce. It was good and I sucked it down pretty quickly. I drank it outside – once again it was a beautiful evening out there.

Right now I’m going to do some journaling. Time to delve into something a little deeper within myself.

Here I am again, doing a short juice/smoothie fast. The reason: In the last year or so that I had chocolate sights, smells and tastes so nearby, I succumbed to chocolate again. (Who wouldn’t when it’s being made right in your place?!) 🙂 I was off all caffeine and sugars for over 2 years and then started up with a bang. I have to admit I can get pretty darn addicted to this stuff. I’m serious. I recognize it as an addiction because I can’t seem to get enough of it… So this fast is a break. I technically started this break in NJ when I was there for 2 weeks recently. I greatly reduced chocolate and sugar intake while I was there and so it seemed good to take a real break now. I would have done it immediately upon my return but had SO many things scheduled for that first week back that it made sense to pick a quieter week. (However I write this and I already have something planned for so many days this week…)

This morning’s juice was 32 oz in size and contained:

celery
kale
cuke
green apples
carrot
orange

it was pretty heavy on the cuke but nice to drink first thing.

I got up early this morning and immediately began posting up things for sale on craigslist. We have to weed down some inventory to make room for new endeavors. I’ve been wanting to post up that list since March so it’s a long time coming but I was grateful for the gumption to post it. I put a link to it on the cafe page: http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/fiddle_heads_cafe.php. Anyway, I worked for several hours on this. I posted so much that craiglist told me to slow down. I hope it’s going to be OK. 🙂

The afternoon came and I was getting hungry. I ate a mango that was very sweet but very fibrous. Still, it tasted yummy. I went over to the cafe and took more photos of things I wanted to sell and then came back to make another juice. This one I plumped up more like a smoothie.

In this juice/smoothie, the ingredients were:

oranges
a WHOLE LOTTA mesclun mix
celery
carrots

and then I added bananas and 1 apple. YUM. this was a delicious drink. I drank about 32 oz of it. It went down pretty easily.

The afternoon was pretty relaxed by comparison to how other days have been going and I welcomed it. I posted more items for sale and then spent time listening to a book on tape. I had a nice chat with an old friend and then it was time to get dinner ready for everyone.

Dinner for me was:

celery
kale
parsley
cuke
tomato

and then I threw the juice from that into the blender and added 1/2 avocado, dulse and a few shots of vital heat.

The night has been so nice and I went outside to drink on the grass. Very nice. I enjoyed it immensely. The avocado made it very filling and the dulse and vital heat (hot sauce) made it savory tasting which I have found from previous fasts that I enjoy at night.

The rest of the night is before me. My mood is calm and I’m just riding the wave of doing very little.

it’s been a roller coaster of life lately. so much going on. my own way of thinking of things also puts me into places that can be utterly pleasant or terrible, depending on how my mind wanders… I had one rough moment yesterday afternoon. I suppose the best way I can put it is that I’m aware of all that I manage and oversee and for some reason, it is feeling like it is too much these days. I am seeking help and support but not really getting it and so something has to give.

I shut off all electronics last night and went to bed at 10 pm. It felt good for me to cease and desist all computer work and mindless FB chatting. In bed, my mind immediately went to a beautiful image of some future place and state that I want to be in. I drifted off into sleep.

In the morning just before awakening, I had a dream about an old boyfriend. One that I hadn’t thought of in years and years. I don’t know why he decided to show up in my dream but my reflection after waking was on the ways in which I gave a bit of myself over to him. I was very immature back then and had not had much relationship experience back then. I was a lot stronger, too, in many ways, and that was also good to reflect on. It turned out to be a very good reflection… I went into a place of meditation after that. Acknowledging the thoughts and reflections and then letting them be. No need to analyze further.

More thoughts and reflections came in and they went about their way, too.

In my rough moments yesterday, I want to acknowledge that I did some tonglen around them, too. There was a moment when the pain I was feeling (emotional pain) was so great that it felt like I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. I breathed into and out of that space for myself and for countless others that could possibly be feeling that right then, too. I suppose it helped me to do this act for myself and others because that pain was big enough to fool me into thinking I was alone in that thought/feeling.

This morning I made a loose plan for how I wanted the day to go to day. I’m doing all things for me right now. OBLIGATION was the word that kept popping up as the action to avoid in my life from now on. 🙂 It feels good to make that claim. I also figured on what I was going to eat today since eating has been so strange for me since late January. (No worries on this.) The phrase that popped in to replace obligation was CARING AS A WANT FOR SELF/OTHERS – in other words: CHOICE. It’s a much better place in my heart (with lots of space around it) when I ask myself, “what do I choose to do today?”

This morning I made a kickass slam dunk green smoothie for myself and my kids:

I sucked down 3/4 of it and will have the rest later. Since January I have been at a loss for what to eat. Don’t ask me why. I decided today that I will have a smoothie in the morning and a nori wrap this afternoon if I’m hungry. Dinner is always easy to figure out.

So that’s all that’s on my mind thus far. I’m off to see about getting another paper written and posted for school. Thank you to anyone that is reading my thoughts and mind wanderings… all love, Linda

I had an excellent Sunday. I’m very grateful to be able to slow down on my days off now. Before it was difficult – always felt guilty or pressure to do something, finish something, clean something, produce something. Today I moved my body, cleaned up my desk, did some bills and then did some painting. I also set out today to change just a bit in the way I’m eating.

I love all the food I eat, I just don’t necessarily like the order in which I eat it. Let me explain. When I feel my best, I’m drinking the majority of my meals: I’d have a green juice in the morning, a green smoothie in the afternoon and then a big salad with some cooked veggies for dinner. The dinners end up feeling the heaviest and I go to bed feeling very weighed down. For a long time I’ve wanted to make my biggest meal be in the afternoon but wasn’t sure how to accomplish that exactly. Too many variables with work and what about social events?

I came to a realization just a few days ago that there’s no need to wait anymore. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, so it’s time to just do it.

The morning green juice was delicious and I shared it with my family:
collards
parsley
green apple
celery
carrots
orange

I then did almost 10 miles on the stationary bike and did a few hand weights. I felt hungry though, so it was time to have lunch. I had:
baby greens
some of the cottage pie that I made in class on Saturday
some of the cooked sweet potato that I had made a couple days ago
sprouted sunflower seeds
a tiny bit of miso dressing

The kids looked at me and said, “Wow! You are hungry?” I told them that I wanted to switch dinner time with lunch time and see how it felt.

I went through some items and organized/cleared off my desk. Paid some bills. Dinner time came and I made a big green smoothie:
banana
cranberries
goji berries
rice protein powder
strawberries
collars
sprouted sunflower seeds
VM green
water

It was pretty darn thick. It tasted good but was too heavily citrusy for me. I drank about 3/4 of it and felt very very full but not heavily full. It’s 10:30 pm and I still feel quite good.

I’m going to adjust QTYs and continue on seeing how this works. I’ll be interested to see how this works while traveling as well as working. Wish me luck!

this question wasn’t directed to me personally but to a whole group of people. I did respond to it and wanted to post it here. I’m hoping it is helpful to the questioner and potentially to others as well…

QUESTION: Anyone know of any good resources for supplements/herbal medicines/foods/anything else that can support you while you’re taking chemo? My aunt has just been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the lymph nodes and starts chemo next week.

ANSWER:
Hi there,

This is an interesting email for me to see personally and I’m going to speak candidly here from my experience and what I would do if I was in your aunt’s shoes and then in your shoes. My journey to food, health etc began when I watched my mother have cancer, be on chemotherapy, radiation and not yet FDA approved drugs also while watching my neighbor and who I considered to be a “surrogate second dad” on the end stages of diabetes simultaneously. To answer your question below, I’d recommend herbs that support the liver first and foremost, however, being on chemotherapy is literally taking poison in one pill and then taking other drugs to make sure that vital organs don’t shut down so that the poison can do its thing. So adding herbs to the mix will take a lot more care and planning so that they really support and don’t complicate matters. Since this is in the lymph system, more care needs to be directed to draining/caring/supporting the immune system and the lymph. I’d actually recommend having her get a “scholarship” and going to Hippocrates in Florida for their healing program but if she doesn’t want to, she can do many things to support and care for herself.

I recently met a woman who refused chemotherapy – she’s a fellow “jersey girl” who now lives in VT if your aunt wants to interview her. Her doctor gave her 3 months to live and told her to take chemotherapy. She refused. She did have surgery though and she supported herself with herbs and food and other modalities. She used things like essiac tea for the liver and still takes it and swears by it to this day. That was 15 years ago for her. I love her story. If your aunt wants, I can connect her to you. Her doctor who had threatened to refuse to be her doctor because she refused treatment then asked her to go “on the road” with him to universities to show how alternative treatments can be more than complimentary.

I also am friends with a woman who, on her 2nd bout of breast cancer and while on radiation went on raw/living food. Her oncologist told her that fresh fruits and vegetables were bad for her while on radiation. She not only made it through 30+ days of radiation and still was able to function and work (and felt good which is something people say is not possible while on radiation – even her oncologist was floored), she has continued on over 6 years now in a healthy body. She says her body is alkaline now and no disease can enter because her inner environment is no longer conducive for disease to thrive. I can connect you to her as well. Her story is also amazing because she did the mainstream modalities along with her own and has succeeded (and then some!) She’s in her 50s and has more energy than me!

Other than that, I’d recommend greens superfoods for the supplement question – something like VitaMineral green or Pure Synergy (although Pure Synergy has potent herbs in it.) I’d recommend eating fermented miso and eating seaweeds to help pull the junk out of the body. I’d recommend green juices/smoothies to be on the top choices for food support and HEALTH. Not eating sugar, meat, dairy, stimulants or refined anything would be top on the list too. Meat/dairy acts as a fertilizer for disease, illness, obesity, heart disease, etc (please refer to “The China Study” for the longest, largest and only peer reviewed nutritional study out there.) Sugar and refined foods and processed foods also feed/fuel cancer cells (and other illnesses, too.) It’s something like 1 TBSP sugar shuts down the immune system for 2 hours so if you ever want to know where your cold or flu came from, check your diet first… Cultured veggies are good but in a cancer environment, it’s recommended to keep the cultured veggies simple (only fermented cabbage or only fermented radishes but not mixing them into a kim chee type thing.) Diet would have to change. People can say that that is too hard for them but for me, cutting me open or giving me pills with horrific side effects is too hard for me. My head/heart tells me I’ll do a green juice fast first and feel uncomfortable in the short term because it is the least invasive thing that might/would produce long term benefit. It’s also the cheapest medication/treatment/prevention, out there. A wise elderly woman recently stated at a showing we did of Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead that she always thought organic food was too expensive until she went to the hospital and got a $10,000 bill – she said, “suddenly organic food seemed cheap to me!” It’s all about choices and priorities and more choices. 🙂

If this were me, I’d do this first before invasive and potentially devastating “therapies” like chemotherapy. (I had always said that I would eat raw/living foods if I ever got cancer and wondered why I would wait until a major illness set in to begin. So I began my living foods journey 10 years ago… We all have cancer cells in us so why wait until we’ve fertilized and flourished them to then decide to change and have that change be that much harder? Saying this, though, whenever the change is made is ultimately the right time to make it.)

All this being said, whatever you aunt chooses to do is *her* choice and the best thing for you and her family to do is to fully support her in whatever she chooses to do. Your loving email and concern for her is just lovely to see and I wish you all the best in this journey. It was difficult for me to watch my mother’s “buy in” on western medicine only. I watched my conservative brothers and I try to get her to juice and try things like shark cartilage (we never were raised on this, although we were raised on food from scratch and local foods.) I was impressed to see my one brother do research for her on complimentary medicine. He actually pointed me in that direction, bless him. My mother’s full trust was in western medicine only. She could swallow the horse chemotherapy pills but choked and gagged on supplements, vitamins and juices. I’m saying this because a person’s openness and beliefs plays a big important role here. My mother, it turned out, was resigned to die and she picked out the dress she was going to be buried in from the moment she was diagnosed. That was her choice and when we finally let her be in her choice, the journey for her was a lot more graceful and honoring. I obviously don’t know you or your aunt. I don’t know what her wishes are or her openness or willingness to try other things and it’s not in anyone’s best interest to push things on her that she doesn’t want. It’s not easy (and I speak from much experience here) to offer things to family/friends as alternatives and then just let them be to do whatever they choose to do. I’m doing this with my family all the time and I’m not always successful in the letting them be part. If your aunt wants this, she will find it for herself, and then you can help her in whatever ways it aligns with you the best.

I hope this helps. I’m here to help and not harm. I always realize that my lifestyle can be “threatening” to a good many people and I email/speak from the place of my heart and my own experiences. Everyone is free to do what they want. Free will.

With any and all recommendations that I write here, they are best made when the person needing the information does their own research and makes their own decisions. That’s better than taking what I or others say as the be all and end all of everything. I wouldn’t want anyone to do exactly what I say. Your aunt’s situation is specific to her and her body and she needs to find out what will work best for her.

The kids are in bed and it’s quiet now so I thought it would be a good time to write a little bit.

So I wanted to write about the wonderful weekend that we had Natasha here. Wow! Can’t believe it was a week ago now!

Natasha Kyssa is a glowing and healthy woman I met about 4 years ago at a class we both attended. I remember when I first met her, I thought she was so radiant that I totally wanted to know what she was doing because whatever it was, it had to be good! We’ve kept in touch a little here and there over the years. I was going to attend her SimplyRaw Festival a year ago but it just didn’t work out for me at that time. I was totally bummed because I know it was great fun and I’m looking forward to when she has one again. I’m hoping to have my act together more so I’m fully prepared for doing these shows. (But probably I’ll be winging it!) 🙂

Natasha bought several of our hemp nut milk bags to have at the festival and I’m super grateful for her support of what we’re doing here at VT Fiddle Heads. She didn’t do a festival this past spring/summer because she was putting out a BOOK! OMG! How freakin cool is that?! I was so excited to see it! It’s absolutely beautiful – done so well with the 2 color printing inside and the full cover glossy cover (can you tell I’ve been into the whole corporate marketing thing? I was/am the marcom girl… LOL) You can totally check out the book via her facebook page.The name of her book is The SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Manual and I’m so ordering some for my store and website! It’s such a good book – user-friendly is the term we’re all using here!

So she said that she wanted to come to VT as a part of her book tour and would I mind helping her by doing a casual potluck and/or meet at a book store or health food store that might want to have her book. She wanted to be in Burlington so the natural place that I thought might be eager to carry her book was Healthy Living. I contacted them and they asked for a copy so I sent them one. (I bought a few copies just to have after Natasha graciously gave me one. I just wanted to have them around, ya know?) Turns out they dug the book and wanted to carry it! YIPPEEEE! So they made a date to have her there and told me it was all set.

The book signing at Healthy Living was scheduled for a Saturday and then there was her request for a potluck. I haven’t done a potluck since about February or March and yet I knew of this wonderful couple named Joshua and Carrie-Anne who have been putting them on for a few months right in Burlington! They’ve sort of teamed up with another woman named Geniel who also does raw food and who *also* is in Burlington! (Can’t believe VT is getting more raw-conscious!) 🙂 I had been hoping to get to one of Joshua’s potlucks since he started them and we’d been in contact here and there for a few months. I wrote to him one day saying that Natasha was coming and would he mind doing a potluck for her since she was going to be in Burlington. He asked Geniel about it and she said YES! This was so wonderful that the dates worked out and the timing worked out. Natasha sent us some posters and I posted them up around various towns with my kids – it made for a fun few hours. We felt like we were a in a band or something… 🙂 We also posted up the Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes posters up that same day.

Saturday came and I arrived at Healthy Living to see where this book signing was going to happen. I thought they were going to put her in the middle of the store, kinda where the books are. NOPE! They put her right by the front door! Not what I was expecting but so totally awesome! Here’s a photo from Natasha’s FB page (I hope she doesn’t mind! FULL Photo props to her husband for taking these pictures. They were just too nice.) There was raw food woman in the middle of barbeque stuff for sale! I loved that endorsement of health right there, smack dab in the middle!

Natasha Kyssa of SimplyRaw in Ontario Canada with her first book out now!

It was great to see her again – she looked as wonderful and healthy as she did 4 years ago! We totally chatted. My friend Joyce was there too and we all chatted for quite a while. (Thanks for the patience of Healthy Living, our husbands and my kids for the 2+ hour chat at the front of the store!) Natasha had little samples of raw carrot cake (which was a recipe from her book) and you know it’s good because my kids were asking for seconds!

So if that wasn’t cool enough, the next day was Sunday and the day for the potluck! I brought some of my RAWsome chili with the sour “creme” and brought it with me. The potluck at Geniel’s house was absolutely wonderful. It was a great, relaxing setting to meet and chat with people about anything. The food looked incredible too and I was gifted by Fern and her hubbie some of their delicious fennel pesto! Joyce also made a gorgeous raspberry lemon pie (you can totally see it right there on her blog.) Everyone’s food was gorgeous looking and I’m sure delicious tasting. I so wish I was hungry that day! Anyway, I got caught up a little bit with Natasha on the past 4 years and we totally agreed it would be hella fun to take a little road trip together (with PATTI — another woman we met at our class.)

It was a lovely social occasion for sure, all the way around. GREAT to meet Geniel finally – great to see Joshua and Carrie-Anne – great to see everyone faces there at the potluck!

three very RAWsome people in a room full of RAWsome people! 🙂 This is Natasha, Carrie-Anne and Joshua

I also found out that night that Natasha was at other book signings at book stores in Burlington! Way to go, Natasha! That’s very cool! I’m super pleased to know you and wish you many many blessings. You are very down to earth and you are doing good good things. Keep up the great work!